Difference between revisions of "1050: Forgot Algebra"

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What is retrovirus?
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{{comic
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Retrovirus belongs to the group of RNA viruses. Their genetic information is not stored in DNA, but in RNA, so they are the only known viruses whose genomes are not haploid. The retroviral genome is diploid with two identical single-stranded positive-stranded RNA with long-terminal repeat (LTR) at both ends. It contains strong promoters and enhancers, which play an important role in the transcriptional regulation of viral DNA. The virus core contains reverse transcriptase and integrase. Unlike other RNA viruses, retroviral RNA does not replicate itself. After entering the host cell, the RNA synthesizes double-stranded DNA by reverse transcriptase, and then integrates the double-stranded DNA into the chromosomal DNA of host cell by integrase, thereby forming proviruses and establishing lifelong infection, and transmitting it to offspring cells along with the division of host cells.
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| number    = 1050
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Classification of retroviruses
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| date      = May 2, 2012
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According to the current international classification criteria of viruses, retroviruses are divided into the following seven genera:
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| title    = Forgot Algebra
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1. Alpharetrovirus
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| image    = forgot_algebra.png
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2. Betaretrovirus
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| titletext = The only things you HAVE to know are how to make enough of a living to stay alive and how to get your taxes done. All the fun parts of life are optional.
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3. Gammaretrovirus
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}}
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4. Deltaretrovirus
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==Explanation==
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5. Epsilonretrovirus
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[[Megan]], standing with [[Hairy]], is an ex student of [[Miss Lenhart]] and she taunts her old algebra teacher, because she hasn't used algebra since she left school. This is a reflection of a common gripe among students: that they have no need to learn math because they assume they'll never use it after they graduate. [[Randall|Randall's]] argument is that you have the option to use what you learned in school or not. Lots of people use math after they graduate, lots of people use their music lessons, and others don't use anything they learned in school at all. However, Randall doesn't understand why someone would be proud of their own ignorance, especially since people do brag about things like being able to cook and speak other languages, which are also entirely non-essential, perhaps even more so than algebra.
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6. Lentivirus
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7. Spumavirus
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However, Megan is also wrong in that she likely does use basic mathematical calculations in everyday life, even if they're not in orderly lists of parameters ending with "solve for x." For example, to turn one's apartment into a ball pit like in  [[150: Grownups]], one must calculate or at least estimate (another skill learned in math class) the floor space of the room, the desired depth for the balls to cover, the space occupied by one crate of balls, and the cost of such a crate. While the operations are basic arithmetic, the ability to recognize unknowns and sort them into a meaningful statement comes from algebra.
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Common retroviruses are monkey leukemia virus, murine leukemia virus, [https://www.creative-biolabs.com/car-t/symbol-hpv.htm hpv retrovirus], HIV and so on.
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Basic features of retroviruses
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The title text states that technically you don't "need" to do anything but survive and {{w|Death & Taxes|pay your taxes}} (although, ironically, doing one's taxes can require quite a bit of algebra), and implies that math is one of the optional and fun parts of life.
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The most basic feature of retroviruses is that the existence of a reverse transcription process in its life processes in which genetic information is transmitted from RNA to DNA, and during reverse transcription, DNA is integrated into the chromosomal DNA of host cells. The process of retroviral transcription is carried out in the nucleocapsid of the virus. When the virus enters the cell, it uses tRNA as a primer, uses positive-stranded RNA as a template for the virus genetic material, synthesizes complementary negative-stranded DNA, and forms a hybrid double strand of RNA-DNA. The hybrid double-stranded RNA is hydrolyzed by RNA enzyme H activity in reverse transcriptase, and then duplicated into double-stranded DNA by negative-stranded DNA under reverse transcriptase and DNA polymerase activity. The double-stranded DNA is then cyclized and stabilized in the cytoplasm under the protection of the virus nucleocapsid. When the host cell divides, the nuclear membrane disintegrates and chromosomes are exposed. At this time, the nucleocapsid of the virus disintegrates, the viral DNA is released to bind to the integrase, and the combined integrase integrates into the DNA of the host cell chromosome to form a provirus, which establishes a lifelong infection through cell division and transmits it to the offspring cells. Retroviral RNA and retroviral DNA contains long terminal repeats (LTR) , strong promoters and enhancers, which play an important role in the transcription of proviruses. When intracellular conditions are met, the proviruses activate and transcribe a large number of RNA, some of which are used to synthesize viral proteins, some are capped and tailed as genetic material of progeny viruses. Finally, the synthesized progeny viruses are released to the host cells by germination.
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Construction of retroviral vector
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This is one of the two comics where Miss Lenhart is both drawn and named, the first being [[499: Scantron]].
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Retrovirus packaging requires the following steps.
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1. Recombinant DNA technology
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==Transcript==
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Recombinant DNA technology can be used to remove viral transformed genes, and to replace viral coding genes with target genes and selective marker genes. The LTRs of viruses can effectively transcribe the inserted foreign genes. These vectors often contain marker genes, such as Neo gene. Therefore, retroviral pre-DNA vectors can be constructed in vitro, including two-terminal LTRs, intermediate insertion of marker genes, bacterial replicons and single-site insertion of exogenous genes.
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:[Hairy is looking on as Megan takes her hands to her mouth and yells after Miss Lenhart who is walking away while looking back at her over her shoulder.]
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2. Establishment of packaging cell lines
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:Megan: Hey, Miss Lenhart! I forgot everything about algebra the moment I graduated, and in 20 years no one has needed me to solve ''anything'' for x.  
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These cells contain integrated defective reverse transcription DNA (the packaging signals has been removed), and no viral particles are assembled despite the presence of a large number of viral proteins.
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:Megan: I ''told you'' I'd never use it!
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3. Transfection of packaging cells with constructed retroviral vector
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:Megan: In your ''face''!
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The vector inserted into the target gene can be amplified in the cultured cells and then transfected into mouse cells. Because the retroviral vector is defective, it can only be replicated in the presence of auxiliary virus or packaging cells. Therefore, the obtained virus contains both vector virus and auxiliary virus, and the protein provided by the latter can be used to package the carrier RNA instead of its own RNA. Using this helper virus cell, there is no need to label genes. The resulting viruses contain vector RNA, but no helper virus RNA.
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4. Infecting target cells with the acquired defective heavy helper virus
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:[Caption below the panel:]
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By interacting with the host cell receptor, it enters the cell and integrates into the host genome through reverse transcription. This viral transcript does not encode any protein needed to produce a viral shell. It usually encodes the target gene. In addition, many non-replicative vectors encode another promoter (pro), which synthesizes the RNA of another gene in the viral genome. Because such vectors do not encode capsid proteins, cells infected by non-replicating vectors cannot produce additional viral particles. Thus, the viral genome is transmitted from one infected cell to another, whereas the viral genome can be transmitted to all offspring through the normal reproductive genetic process of the host gene.
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:It's weird how proud people are of not learning math when the same arguments apply to learning to play music, cook, or speak a foreign language.
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Application prospect of retroviral vector
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Because the advantages of the retroviral vector method are very prominent, it has broad application prospects in both theory and practice. The advantages of this method include: a. retrovirus have high transfection efficiency b. Transcriptional viruses have DNA stages in their life cycle, and their genome structure is simple, with a length of only 8-10Kb, which is convenient for gene manipulation. c. The capacity of the retrovirus is large. The deletion of structural genes in retrovirus genome does not affect the function of other parts. All of them can be replaced by exogenous genes, which can meet the needs of most exogenous genes. d. recombinant retrovirus does not cause cytopathy after infecting cells, and the resulting virus particles are released from the cell membrane by budding and are present in the cell culture supernatant. It is easy to isolate from the host cell and has a low probability of contaminating the DNA and other components of the host cell. e. Recombinant retroviruses lacking structural genes are pseudotyped. They can only integrate exogenous genes into the chromosomes of target cells and cannot replicate to produce progeny viruses, thus improving the safety of retroviruses.
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{{comic discussion}}
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[https://www.creative-biolabs.com/car-t/retrovirus-mediated-tcr-gene-transfer.htm Retroviral vector for gene therapy]
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Retroviral vectors for gene therapy have attracted increasing attention because of their high transfer efficiency, stable expression and wide host range. Retroviral vector-based method has become an important strategy in gene therapy. In addition, the retroviral vector method can be used to determine the structure and function of genes, and to carry out developmental biology research, carcinogenesis model research and so on. High concentrations of retroviral vector particles are artificially infected with pre-implantation or post-implantation embryos, and embryos can be directly co-cultured with single-layer cultured cells that can release retroviruses to achieve the purpose of infection.
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[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
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[[Category:Comics featuring Miss Lenhart]]
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[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
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[[Category:Math]]

Revision as of 02:13, 18 August 2019

Forgot Algebra
The only things you HAVE to know are how to make enough of a living to stay alive and how to get your taxes done. All the fun parts of life are optional.
Title text: The only things you HAVE to know are how to make enough of a living to stay alive and how to get your taxes done. All the fun parts of life are optional.

Explanation

Megan, standing with Hairy, is an ex student of Miss Lenhart and she taunts her old algebra teacher, because she hasn't used algebra since she left school. This is a reflection of a common gripe among students: that they have no need to learn math because they assume they'll never use it after they graduate. Randall's argument is that you have the option to use what you learned in school or not. Lots of people use math after they graduate, lots of people use their music lessons, and others don't use anything they learned in school at all. However, Randall doesn't understand why someone would be proud of their own ignorance, especially since people do brag about things like being able to cook and speak other languages, which are also entirely non-essential, perhaps even more so than algebra.

However, Megan is also wrong in that she likely does use basic mathematical calculations in everyday life, even if they're not in orderly lists of parameters ending with "solve for x." For example, to turn one's apartment into a ball pit like in 150: Grownups, one must calculate or at least estimate (another skill learned in math class) the floor space of the room, the desired depth for the balls to cover, the space occupied by one crate of balls, and the cost of such a crate. While the operations are basic arithmetic, the ability to recognize unknowns and sort them into a meaningful statement comes from algebra.

The title text states that technically you don't "need" to do anything but survive and pay your taxes (although, ironically, doing one's taxes can require quite a bit of algebra), and implies that math is one of the optional and fun parts of life.

This is one of the two comics where Miss Lenhart is both drawn and named, the first being 499: Scantron.

Transcript

[Hairy is looking on as Megan takes her hands to her mouth and yells after Miss Lenhart who is walking away while looking back at her over her shoulder.]
Megan: Hey, Miss Lenhart! I forgot everything about algebra the moment I graduated, and in 20 years no one has needed me to solve anything for x.
Megan: I told you I'd never use it!
Megan: In your face!
[Caption below the panel:]
It's weird how proud people are of not learning math when the same arguments apply to learning to play music, cook, or speak a foreign language.


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Discussion

Actually, I always use Megan's argument whenever I'm in World History Class.--Jimmy C (talk) 21:34, 14 November 2012 (UTC)

Yes, because what intelligent people did in the past when faced with complex decisions can have NO bearing on anything in my own life. 108.162.219.223 08:17, 10 January 2014 (UTC)
If history actually repeats itself if you don't study it, then the best way to study history is to not study it, because then it will happen to yourself and you will be able to experience it first hand! guess who (if you want to | what i have done) 17:12, 22 January 2024 (UTC)

It allways seems strange to me that there are places in the world where preparing your own meals is not an everyday task to most people. Living in Norway it just seems extremely decadent!85.164.251.29 20:44, 30 August 2013 (UTC)

I don't think that by "learning to cook" he means to prepare food, but to do it well and to enjoy it. Many people can prepare very limited food, causing them to not enjoy cooking and to believe that they cannot cook. Theo (talk) 21:06, 30 August 2013 (UTC)
No, he meant "learning to cook". We learn math, not necessarily so we can enjoy it but so that we can function as a modern human being. You don't have to enjoy cooking, but by god's sake you should at least learn the basics. We can't all be generation Y, you know; things would cease to function. 108.162.219.223 08:17, 10 January 2014 (UTC)
I think the point is that being able to cook, play an instrument, or speak a foreign language is generally seen as positive even if it doesn't benefit the person judging (they aren't expecting to eat the cooking or need an interpreter). "I can do integral calculus" will not get you the same sort of reaction. 162.158.187.178 20:54, 18 January 2022 (UTC)

Fortunately for mathophiles, it appears that this sentiment fades with age. In an August 2013 Gallup survey of American adults, respondents were asked which school subject they considered most valuable in their daily lives, and Math took the top spot. http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2013/09/math_viewed_as_most_valuable_s.html Frijole (talk) 23:39, 10 September 2013 (UTC)

A google search of "when am I ever going to use X?" reveals that "math" and "algebra" get tens of thousands of hits, physics gets hundreds, while just about everything else is under 100. I think the extreme dislike of math (edweek survey notwithstanding, and probably self-serving) is in a different league from what others have discussed here. The explanation should reflect. Jd2718 (talk) 03:16, 16 September 2013 (UTC)

It was a Gallup survey, and how can the choice of "math" be self-serving anyway?? It is an educational journal, for pete's sake! The only choices were school subjects.
My own reasoning is that people have an unnatural fear of math simply because it *is* a pure science, it *is* abstract. The idiotic thing is that people use math all the time, they just don't call it that. Trying to work out how many drinks you can buy and still have cab fare? Algebra, b*tches! 108.162.219.223 08:17, 10 January 2014 (UTC)

Counterpoint: Unlike music and foreign language, math is a required course throughout school, which must be infuriating for those who struggle with it. My belief for what are currently the core classes is that students should be taught the material that will help them "in real life" and in a variety of jobs, and probably a bit of extra knowledge beyond that; but the much more complex and abstract topics should be optional. ~AgentMuffin

Counter-counterpoint: You have to balance the 'need' for abstract topics with the advantage that young minds have in learning. Generally speaking, as you get older it becomes more difficult to learn new things. So the most advantageous time to learn those difficult/abstract topics is when your mind is (statistically) best capable of learning them.

Counter-counter-counterpoint: abstract topics are actually specifically the sorts of things that "young minds" (up through middle school, at least, and sometimes into high school) struggle to learn (or comprehend) more than more older minds. It's why teaching algebra to middle schoolers (in general and on average) is generally avoided. (Source: professional development as a middle school teacher) On an unrelated note, the depressing thing about this comic is that I have heard students make the same complaint (i.e. when am I ever going to need this) about music, cooking, AND speaking a foreign language. Who, me? (talk) 01:14, 19 January 2022 (UTC)

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